Krovas - The Cold isn't the only thing to worry about.

Following the first SACK adventure WHOMOVED MY CHEESE?, in which 6 stalwart adventurers go tomb-robbing to acquire a piece of warpstone that had corrupted the young wife of the madman Heinrich Von Gunner. Now the SACK has contacted two of the original party members, Louis and Mondrian, to find Heinrich, who disappeared from the temple of Shallia, where he was being cared for.

Before the adventure, (offscreen), Mondrian and Lorenzo (Matt’s wizard), had tracked Heinrich into the sewers of the noble quarter, but had ultimately lost him. Now Mondrian has assembled a crack team to help him find and apprehend Heinrich: Benvolio the ratcatcher (sewers are his specialty) and Louis the Agent (to help resolve any complications in the Noble Quarter).

Since it is highly verboten to bring a ratcatcher into the Noble Quarter, Mondrian arranges with some “local color” to get a ride across the river with the smuggler and ne’er do well Denard Span, accompanied by his henchmen, Cuddy and Koobs. After overpaying them stiffly and giving them the smell of money, there was a tense journey in the boat and then Span suggested that he and his cohort should accompany the adventurers into town (with the pretty obvious intent of shaking them down.) Mondrian bluffed them into thinking that they’d return soon, and letting Span believe that they’d have a chance to fleece them on the return trip, and so they left the gang at the docks, cautiously hiding to make sure they were not tailed.

After realizing that they had no way to overcome the cistern locks and enter the sewers from the river before the tide came in, Louis used his pistol to blow one of the locks off, and they entered the sewers.

They made their way arduously through the sewers for sometime, avoiding the normal pitfalls of slippery terrain and reeking waste. Finally, as they went further and further Northwest, they came to a region of the sewers that was dry and looked well-traveled— in the area that Mondrian had lost Heinrich. Pressing on, they found a room full of bats and were caught in a batswarm as (unbeknowest to us), nasty mushroom spores were released by the commotion, bathing the party in psychotropic drugs.

The highly disciplined and steely-nerved mind of Mondrian was unscathed of course. But the weaker wills of Benvolio & Louis succumbed to strange fears. Louis was beset by roaring, able to hear nothing else in the silent caves. Benvolio was beset by strange emotions. Of course Mondrian’s fiery charisma and stoic wisdom was such that even the mad obey him: They pressed on through the caves and eventually found a workshop full of laboratory items, strange books and a chained rat-ogre.

The vicious beast began to try to wrest itself free in order to attack them as they dithered briefly. Seeing that it was only a matter of time before it got loose, Mondrian resolved to wipe the abomination from the land of the living. He started taking point blank shots at the thing with his crossbow, then Benvolio’s crossbow, then the pistol of Louis, as his compatriots were barely functional. The thing wrenched free and a frantic combat ensued in which they just managed to destroy the thing after it had wounded the valiant Mondrian. Meanwhile Benvolio had retired to the secondary rooms and found Heinrich cowering, using his net to ensnare him.

Thus armed with some strange magical and esoteric loot, as well as with the (living) body of Heinrich, they made their way back to the river and returned to lick their wounds and collect their winnings.

The session opened with our heroes in the marketplatz of Krovas (naturally). The crowd stirred, then parted to let a boy through, who was pursued by the city guard. Just when it looked like the ragamuffin was set to escape the guards, he was cut off by mounted riders and the heroes saw the highly placed priest of Sigmar, Aelfred the Half-dead, apprehend the boy and check a mark on his neck. Then they rode away with the boy in tow.

This session introduced the Star Children, a heretical cult that once were based in the hills outside Krovas. A few remnants of the Children live in the environs of Krovas and Erengrad, generally keeping a low profile to avoid witch-hunters and practice their ancient pagan religion secretly.

Shortly thereafter Lorenzo saw the red sash hanging from the tower of Krovas and looked under the barrel to find the note. The SACK advised the party that a caravan guard fleeing a roadside Beastman ambush had escaped death only to flee deep into the woods and stumble across the legendary Observatory of the Star Children, hidden for centuries in the hills to the Northeast of Krovas. There, an ancient tale told of a “Lamp of Truth” that could be recovered from its hiding place. This relic was to be obtained for the SACK and returned to their normal contact.

The party set about finding the guardsman, Alfonso, who had accidentally found the Observatory. After spending some time in Shamly’s Hammer, they tracked Alfonso to the Moon House, a grungy dive and flophouse near the Southern gate of Krovas. Alfonso gave them directions to the place they’d been ambushed, and described how he had fled and found the Observatory.

The party bought two horses and a war pony for Fallis). As they prepared to leave Krovas, they saw a party of four Holy Wardens leaving Krovas. Following them at a distance, they decided to ambush them the first night on the road. The ambush was successful and all four Wardens were slain; one of them was Ivan the man that Lorenzo, Louis and Drowsin had interrogated outside Shamley’s Hammer a few weeks back (See SACK 2: The Case of the Unfortunate Lady). During the combat, they seemed to see the shape of a Dark Elf woman at the edge of the campfire, but when they searched for her, there was no sign of her movements or tracks.

They set the Warden’s horses free and went off-road after finding the caravan remnants. THey found the gnawed-upon body of a Beastman and shortly thereafter found the Observatory, hidden in the hills. Approaching the structure, they discovered some goblins guarding the place, and as combat began, the greenskins were joined by a squig and an orc. After a bloody combat (which dropped Fallis, but with no crits), they explored the Observatory, and after analyzing the prophecy language given by SACK, they found the prize hidden behind the crystal model of the sun on the observatory’s ceiling. The prize was a big scroll tube full of ancient parchment inscribed with dozens of arcane star-charts and so on.

The party agreed to return with the star-charts to Krovas and turn them over to their SACK contact as specified, but not before Lorenzo made his own copies.

The red sash flew on the clocktower and Thrak answered the call by retrieving the note under the blue barrel in the Marketplatz. The contents simply instructed to get a table for dinner at Shamley’s Hammer; assemble the team and prepare the table for themselves plus one.

Shortly after arriving at the Hammer, an older gentlemen requested a seat at the table. After ordering two bottles of Kislev’s esteemed Praag’s peppered bourbon and offering a toast, he introduced himself as Ryld Argith, an emissary of the Gruber family. Over the course of a fine meal, he explained the family he serves has lost one of their sons. Master Hans, a sergeant in the Krovas army currently assigned in patrolling the Grovod Wood south of Krovas, is two days overdue in reporting from his current mission. While the army will no doubt send a team to search for the missing, the family wishes to have their family blade retrieved. Given the paltry wages soldiers receive, they fear the blade will be lost to them should they find it. And thus, given the family’s pull in Krovas, they are using the resources within SACK to their benefit.

As the meal concluded, Ryld encouraged the party to keep the remaining spirits along with a front payment of 5 gp, money in good faith for the job at hand. Additionally, Ryld provided a map of the current patrol route Hans had been running and a trinket to be placed with Bjorn at his fish market in the Marketplatz; an indication of completion of the job at which time he’ll be in contact for a final transfer. Following success, each surviving member will be allowed to peruse the wares and select an item from the legendary Gruber blacksmiths, a profession which elevated the status of their family generations ago. With that, Ryld took his leave and bade the party godspeed and all success.

Shortly following his departure, a plainly dressed women approached the table and invited the party to meet with her master across the street at the Griffon’s nest. She informed them only that they would be expected and her master can be found in room 6 on the second floor. The party chose to follow through all making their way to room 6 aside from Louis, who chose to remain in the lobby. The lone person in room 6 was a woman who encouraged them to sit and opened with a question, “Are you the group involved in the recent disturbance in the Vonn Gunnar mausoleum?” Thrak chose the honest route answering affirmatively breaking a smile from the unnamed woman. She then went on to tell the party Heinrich (the crazy man whose wife turned out to be a raised banshee) is now missing. While of no consequence, she said she thought the group should know in the event ‘others’ come asking about him.

Small talk dispensed, she told the party the man across the street is not who he says he is, is not a representative of the Gruber family, and whatever reward he promised is unlikely to happen despite any successes your endeavor may result in (successful intuition checks indicated she was being truthful). She continued in saying the task at hand is sanctioned by SACK and failure to comply will end badly for them. In concluding the one sided conversation, she mentioned she believes their actions in the Vonn Gunnar incident have made them a target and to take caution while in the wood; at all costs, do not get stuck out there at night. She hopes they’ll meet again and will make efforts to see they are better informed if they do.

The party left for the wood at dawn heeding her words. An hour or so into their journey, the party found signs of a battle with forces from Krovas though there was little left on the battlefield aside from a stripped, mutliated, half-eaten corpse. Given the decay and lack of body parts, it was impossible to tell if the man was a soldier; however, the arms and armor littering the trampled ground seemed to indicate as such. Continuing on the path indicated from Ryld map, a few hours later Louis, on point, froze as three arrows struck the ground at his feet.

A wood elf emerged from the wood with four of his guard and after making some odd comments about the bunch told them they’d have to come with him. The party made no threatening gestures; the lead wood elf introduced himself as Rey Kildeen and told them they could keep their weapons as they posed no threat, however, the tainted one (Lorenzo) required his hands be bound. While putting up a small fuss, it was decided life was better than death and thus complied. On the way, there was an assault from beastmen. In an impressive display the wood elves, whose numbers were truly hidden by the wood, dispatched of them with ease. Ranged forces pelted the beastmen with arrows and those that got close enough were carved in a ballet of blades.

Upon reaching the destination, Rey Kildeen told Lorenzo and Drowsin they would not be permitted into Canneroc’s grove. Thrak and Louis met with Canneroc, the current ‘fairy in charge’ who told them their presence was unexpected and if Krovas is going to continue to send troops into the wood, they might want to consider a larger force. He went on to tell the pair how the beastmen have mightily increased in number and are defiling the most sacred place of the wood. Such actions have thinned their ranks and as such the last patrol was able to, presumably unknowing, reach far deeper into ‘elf’ territory than they’d prefer. The result was the beastmen, who’ve been gathering/recruiting Rieklanders, stormed the patrol and the skirmish carried into an elf settlement filled with women and young. The elves were mercilessly slaughtered while all the Rieklanders were carried away. Canneroc continued the beastmen aren’t particularly interested in them, however, they lie between the beastmen and Krovas of which the beastmen are certainly interested. He’s torn as he doesn’t have the force to deal with the beastmen army and it seems they will be driven from the wood.

Thrak then asked about the sword which Canneroc found was a silly reason to be this deep in dangerous territory. He told him he didn’t recover the sword from the earlier skirmish but the beastmen took their quarry straight west into the heart of the wood. He granted the group access to simple supplies before dismissing them.

The party took their leave of the elves heading further west into the woods per Canneroc’s instructions eventually finding a large horde of beastmen. The beastmen were herding Rieklanders and have several of their number chained together exposing them to a giant herdstone ripe with corruption. They tried to get a closer look but it seemed to be a foolish task and at this point abandoned their search. Attempting to make their way back, they were made by a pack of beastmen and forced to fight. As they were dispatching the enemies, roars of reinforcements sounded out extending the skirmish. While the first pack were simple ungors, the next round contained gors and a wargor. The clan of wood elves showed up to assist and were successful in helping the party escape. Following the escape, Canneroc presented an ornate blade, presumably their quarry also informing them they put to death most of the humans chained to the herdstone. He advised them to bring the size of the force to Krovas’ attention and that an army would be needed to quell the threat.

The journey back to Krovas was uneventful. They hung the talismen as instructed by Ryld Argith at the fish shop in the Marketplatz and waited for a contact that never came. The mysterious guest from The Griffon’s Nest did make an appearance introducing herself as Greta Sustaryn. She went on to explain how their house mage, Glen Danzig, is corrupt to the core and also a member of SACK indicating dissention within its’ ranks. This, of course, does not bode well for her entire family should the mage be exposed. She believes Danzig is responsible for the Vonn Gunnar incident (the now deceased Enid wzs her sister) meaning he is dabbling in necromancy and working with Skaven. She indicated with some certainty he engineering the quest to retrieve the Gruber sword meaning he also has knowledge of the beastmen in the Grovod Wood. This likely marks him as a major player in the evils surrounding Krovas and a formidable enemy. It’s also unfortunate for the party as they seem to be in his cross-hairs.

Greta told them to carry on, business as usual and as she gathers more intel, efforts will made to contact them.

Setup: The Society Against Corruption in Krovas has established the following routine. A red sash on the clocktower on any given day means that the mysterious Society Elders are meeting. The Society’s agents (the player characters) will be offered a mission the next morning by means of planting a letter under a blue-striped barrel in the southwest corner of the Marketplatz.

Following this routine, Lorenzo, Drowsin & Louis recived the instructions to find out the source of the ruinous corruption of the unfortunate Anastasia Dubrovnik, and to eliminate the source of corruption.

Louis had heard of the wealthy fur merchants named Dubrovniks, so he went to their house and talked his way into speak with the patriarch of the family, Anton Dubrovnik. By pretending to represent a Bretonnian suitor, Louis conned his way into talking with the unfortunate girl herself, a mousy pious girl who wants nothing more than to be a nun. Against her wishes, her drunk father showed Louis the third eye the girl had grown on her chest— apparently caused by changes to the seizure medication she has taken since she was a girl. Louis also established that the sickness started after Anastasia was betrothed to a certain Anton Gislev, a poor nobleman looking to marry into wealth. Also, the delivery of the drugs from Altdorf had recently been taken over by a relatively new power in Krovas, the traders known as the Holy Wardens, self-styled fanatical protectors of the roads.

Louis & co decided to speak to the Holy Wardens so Louis went to Korbash’s Spirits and rufi’d a party of three wardens, getting one to accompany him into the streets outside. There ensued much torture and a few good ticks on the party tension meter as the elf grappled Ivan the Holy Warden and the proud dignified wizard cut off his pinkie and tortured him. The use of the wizard’s flaming sword and Louis shooting his gun began to attract attention so they cold-coked the unfortunate Ivan after threatening his life and burn-scarring his face. They were able to determine that the Holy Wardens are centered in Erengrad, led by a High Holy Brother named Ostren. They have one warehouse in Krovas and the master of the house is Reynaud Salazar, a renegade Bretonnian. As the city guard was heard to approach, with the horns of the night watch blaring, they left Ivan bleeding on the street and fled into the night. (“Mommy, why is the elf hurting that man??”)

Our intrepid heroes staked out the warehouse of the Holy Wardens and happily chanced upon the gallic infused Reynaud Salazar lambasting the warehouse guards. Seeing him enter the warehouse alone, they snuck into the warehouse and kidnapped Reynaud, barely escaping as the night watch descended in force upon the warehouse. They took the unfortunate Reynaud to the docks to torture him under the pier; Reynaud quickly cracked and explained the scheme. The maidservant to Anton Gislev, Anastasia’s betrothed, was in love with the young, destitute nobleman and had secured vile chaos-ridden dust from her “aunt in the woods by the haunted Dolmen.” This dust was combined with Anastasia’s medication in order to start her physical corruption. The heroes decided that the Dolmen’s denizens must be the source of this chaos-dust and decided to let Reynaud live. (Reynaud, who wears a nose-ring, the Bretonnian mark of a thief, vowed to retire from smuggling and never be seen in Krovas again.)

The heroes journeyed to the haunted dolmen just out of town and entered the cottage that they found there. A beautiful woman sat staring into a fire wearing an elfish crown. Upon entry, she summoned to life her skeletal minions and she battled the characters with the aid of the skeletons. After defeating the witch and her cronies, the characters heard the plaintive cry for help from the cave beneath the floor of the old cottage. The elf charged down into the hole and found a nasty chaos monster, setting up a nasty battle in the depths of the earth. After the monster struck down the elf, it clashed with Louis while Lorenzo frantically cast his fire spells at it. All 3 were barely standing when the chaos-spawn finally dropped in its tracks.

(Out of character: As we had started late, and it was almost 11, we ended there.)

Fruits of conquest: One healing draught is discovered in the witch’s workshop, as well as Dark Elf scrolls that hint at her plans in the Northeast.
Reward for the mission: The original note said 20 gp and a Marque of Authority bestowed by the Society. Matt suggested that the sum be 10 gp to keep wealth levels sane and not eliminate the advantages of those early characters who spend building points on wealth, so I reduced the sum to 10gp (still the equivalent of more than 1 month’s wages for a mercenary for about 2 days of dangerous work).

Open questions / loose ends:

Louis had tried to entice Anton Dubrovnik with the offer of a Brettonian noble’s hand for Anastasia; will Anton forget?

Louis has seen Anastasia’s mutation— Drowsin and Lorenzo know of it; what will he do with this info? Can she be allowed to live?

How will the Holy Wardens respond to the beating and torture of one of their number as well as the kidnapping and disappearance of their master smuggler (assuming Reynaud honors his pledge).

What was the agenda of the horrific Dark Elf witch so close to the semi-civilization of Krovas and what dark secrets are contained in her scrolls?

Six rowdy adventurers received their first assignment from the mysterious Society Against the Corruption of Krovas.

Deuce Mondrian, the handsome and smartest of them all: cemetery attendant and purveyor of antiques.

Thrak the Dwarfish Pit Fighter (Bryce)

Elven Swordmaster (Micah)

Human Soldier (Terry)

Louis Firking the Agent (Todd)

Lorenzo Srarz the Bright Wizard (Matt)

We were assigned the task of investigating the insanity of a mad nobleman housed in the temple of Shallya. The Agent and Deuce M infiltrated the temple posing as relatives (and a servant). The madman rambled on of his lost love who was buried with “cheese”. We set upon the course of investigating the tomb of the noblewoman in order to ascertain her fate and determine what this mysterious “cheese” might consist of.

6 awesome heroes set out for the graveyard. It all started with an elaborate, but dubious scheme of bringing the wizard into the graveyard in a coffin. Finding the graveyard closed at night, we determined to climb the wall. Deuce scouted the grave and found the place overrun with Scayven. We climbed over the wall in force and decimated the rat-things.
Then we entered the tomb and heard the fighting of its evil denizens— Scayven and Undead (I think?)

(This part was slightly abridged as real-time was getting short; the battle was dispensed with and we went straight to looting.)

Terry’s soldier stole jewels and everything not nailed down from the tomb corpses.
Deuce grabbed the big hunk of green stone (“cheese”) lodged in the skeleton of the madman’s wife.

There was a Bretonnian standoff while the Wizard ignobly argued with Deuce about who should collect the fancy green bauble. After a while, even though Deuce could see through the cowardly wizard’s lies about its danger, Deuce gave in to the party’s will (since they were all threatening to kill him) and gave up the warpstone “cheese” to the Wizard to be destroyed. (Yeah sure, like that will happen.. who watches the watchmen??)

A one of: The witch-hunter and his entourage come to town

The witch hunter’s circus rolled into Krovas setting up shop in the marketplatz looking to persecute and burn anyone who didn’t strike them as ‘right’. Suramon had been moving from town to town for several years and had acquired quite a following. They were an imposing force and while no town enjoyed their arrival, to stand against them usually ended poorly for those who did. Perceptive and charismatic, Suramon had the ability to incite the masses into cacophonies of misguided piousness leaving behind satisifed citizens believing their community had been ‘cleansed’.

Suramon’s disciples had become so well trained, their blind devotion guided the circus stirring up such frenzy there was actually little he had to aside from staring down the masses, arms crossed, judging each with his pale blue eyes. His right hand man, the unnamed one, stood beside him stoically. Clad in all black leather including a full length coat and a hat with a wide brim covering his facial features, all save his well maintained full beard, personfied intimidation. He carried twin pistols well concealed by his coat and held a blunderbuss capable of killing a rat ogre with a single shot. As the crowd focused their gaze on the two standing on the portable dais, the disciples worked the crowd seeking subjects tainted with chaos.

Orin Hasling was perhaps the most adept at stirring the pot. Shouting eternal damnation to anyone with earshot was enough to incite a reaction in all but the most stalwart. He possessed an ability of deflecting the angst of the mob to one of their own fueling the fires of exposing the chaos tainted; purification following shortly thereafter. Denis Longtile had left the Altdorf army two years back seeking travel and a paying gig putting his talents to use – crowd control. While he was no religious zealot, he was certainly a believer but the past two years on the road had exposed him to enough leading to the conclusion the pious were no better than the tainted they sought to cleanse. Acilio Marcellino continued a penance of servitude to Suramon after his action (or inaction) was considered cowardly years back in an attack on his village. He performed his duties well but what he really loved was finding easy marks in the crowd and stealing from them.

The posse’ was less well received in Krovas than in most locations they’d visited. Minutes into their act, Orin was already despised, the mob becoming volatile quickly forcing Denis into action. Denis barked at the crowd in a duplicitous manner telling them none of this was worth it while almost in the same breath explaining if any of them made a move, it would be their last. As the fervor continued to build, Acilio had struck poorly at a mark and was now being shoved about by several members of the crowd. Cries of charlatan began to resound as pockets of the mob unified against their false cause. As Acilio tried to talk his way out of his precarious situation, Orin continued to ignite the masses. Denis parted the crowd enough to get hold of Acilio and get him out of harm’s way.

As the scene was about to boil over, Suramon finally spoke. His words pacified the crowd moderately as he explained the escalating situation is exactly what happens when chaos is present. We will be patient and allow the agents to show themselves; they can’t hide forever. Suramon requested his minions withdraw and when the people of Krovas are ready to act against the unseen threat assailing them daily, they will come together.

Fynn Rostlin, another of Suramon’s minions had returned with news and leads; places to investigate that may be concealing the forces of chaos. Suramon summoned Orin, Denis, and Acilio to go and check the places out; he expected a report in a few hours.

The first stop on the trio’s path was Jarvis’ Curiosities. The shop was a cluttered mess with all sorts of odd trinkets and talisman’s. The congestion in the place alone suggested something was being hidden. While the door was unlocked, nobody seemed to be home. Orin was intent on finding something, anything to provide a subject for his master. Denis told him he was wasting his time. Acilio came in through the back door truly confirming nobody was around. Concluding this was a dead end, the group made their way to a jail cell where a couple of guards were being punished for allegedly being involved with a chaos cult.

The prisoners explained they were simply on duty at the wrong time and had nothing to do with the situation they were convicted of being associated with. They attested to a corrupt baliff, who conveniently was unable to be found. In addition, they mentioned a dwarf, two Rieklanders, and a priest of Sigmar himself. Orin balked at the accusation; Denis retorted soldiers are men of their word adding their deaths are certain so there really is no reason to not believe their confession. Unsatisfied, Orin was remiss to move on to their final lead before reporting to Suramon. He was hopeful Fitzlov’s Fineries would contain the evidence he so sorely sought.

The shop itself was very plain, however, a little investigation yielded some materials providing a link to chaos exposure. As Orin gathered the evidence, movement from above caught their attention and they were beset upon. Four armed men already present in the store made their presence known and attacked.

Dispatching the group was easy enough though the collateral damage of the burning shop was not planned. Investigation of the bodies showed signs of Slannesh! A chaos presence indeed. Orin was thrilled at the discovery yet these men did not meet the description provided by the shackled guards. The owner of Fitzlov’s Fineries still needed to be found…

The carts continued their ride into the depths of the mine as the beastmen fell further behind, eventually becoming no concern. Kurgi was growing more concerned the further we went at one point asking Harry, “Don’t you smell that?” In a frenzy, he swatted Harry’s lantern extingushing it and knocking it out of the cart. Harry screamed to the first cart to put out the lights and hit the brakes. With good fortune, Loren and Horst heard the commands over the cacophony of the carts and followed suit. Kurgi went on to explain there are combustible gases so we’d need to proceed in the dark. Harry found his lantern although it seemed unusally light as if the fuel from a lantern that never required filling had drained when it crashed to the ground.

We pressed on in the carts at a very slow pace, Kurgi frequently pointing out how useless we were in the dark. The group had opted to tie the carts together in order to prevent too much separation. Kurgi and Harry were now in the lead cart with Horst and Loren sitting int he second. We came to a fork where Kurgi sent the front cart left and unfortunately the second cart veered right bringing the crawl to a stop once again much to Kurgi’s dismay.

Horst and Loren were swarmed by bats down their path with Horst taking a significant pelting. Apparently, Sigmar can’t hear you when your in the depths. Everyone helped to heal Horst’s wounds and the group moved the second cart back to join the first again moving at a slow pace.

Inevitably, the carts had to be stopped again; this time for good reason. Kurgi pointed out the tracks were at an end. Panic began to set in for the Reiklanders; Kurgi mentioned we could back to using light. Along with some torches, Harry lit the lantern but it now gave off much less light. The tracks were indeed out and where once stood a great stone bridge was only a chasm. A rope bridge had been put in its place, however, it had been cut on this side and now only dangled from the other side.

A grappling hook and rope was retrieved from Lev’s backpack and was used to hook the rope bridge – an amazing display of coordination from Harry Canyon. The group began heaving the bridge back towards themselves in an effort to tie it off and hopefully cross safely. During the workout, Kurgi smelled blood and headed back the way we came. Indeed, we were beset upon by a horde of Skaven. Urgency setting in, Harry and Horst doubled their efforts while Loren was going to serve as a backup to the carnage Kurgi was wrecking in the tunnel.

The skaven were numerous and several made it past Kurgi. Using his spear, Loren made a great stand at preventing them from getting to the bridge haulers. Despite his efforts, a few made it past to Harry and Horst. Horst, in an effort to remove the vermin, passed out from kicking at them one too many times. Left alone, Harry got the bridge tied off in a manner he presumed safe to cross.

The little skaven dissipated at the return of Kurgi who had three much larger skaven in pursuit. Horst was revived, and was the first to cross the bridge, which held. Harry followed, with Loren right behind. Once across, Kurgi cut the rope bridge sacrificing himself for the group. “Die well”, cried Harry, and the group continued on their only path before them.

After an uneventful trek, the party began following a sound of what sounded like hammer on metal, certainly not natural, and hopefully created by what would be allies, not enemies. The closest entrance we found in pursit of the sound seemed to be the result of destruction, it appears to be a large hole in a wall meaning we were possibly entering a dwarven city, certainly the mine was behind us here. Harry crept in and indeed found a band of dwarves, one of them pounding on a large anvil which gave off a light from an unknown source. Harry bade his companions to move forward so we could introduce ourselves to what was hoped to be a friendly group.

Picking up where we left off, Kurgi pointed out the cave troll had run off as we failed to burn the body. With the immediate threats dealt with, we returned to examining the ceremonial array of corpses as well as searching what remained of the camp for any clues as to what might have happened.

Horst scanned the perimeter of the camp yielding some fine arrows but little else. Kurgi checked out the entrance to the mine and delving in a couple hundred yards discovered some symbology of dwarven origin. What exactly it meant remained undetermined. Loren spent some time examining the bodies of the camp inhabitants. He observed they were definitely arranged in a pattern of some sort. Similar to the corpses we encountered in the wilderness by the broken cart, they were defaced, backs flayed with ribs and organs removed. Truly a gruesome site for some nefarious purpose.

Harry spent some time searching the buildings. A supply building was well equipped with finely crafted mining tools along with three opaque flasks. A search of a second building concluded this was the manager’s office. The log books were in dwarvish so Harry sent for Kurgi to see if he could translate. The main thing to note here is the dwarves had definitely found Gromril in the mine and had begun excavating. Kurgi assisted Harry in learning the oil in the flasks was highly flammable with a low flashpoint and incinerating itself quickly. It would certainly make an effective fuse. We didn’t find any explosives to go with the flasks.

Continuing to search the camp, we spotted some sacks of ore. While making plans on how to get some of the ore back to Krovas, the group detected a metallic smell in the center of camp. The group convened there all confirming the same odor but unable to identify the source. Without warning, a volley of arrows pelted the camp leaving none of us unscathed. We scattered for cover, all save Kurgi, who was pinned to the ground.

Following the volley, the air in the middle of the camp began to coalesce and crackle with energy. The air itself seemed to split apart within the electric haze. What poured from the void defied description, mouths with legs more of less which descended upon the party with great speed. Horst scored the first killing blow in oblierating fashion. As the demon burst apart, it was replaced by two smaller copies of itself.

And so went the exercise; killing one to make two. Fortunately, the demons did not further split. When they wre finished off, the portal was gone. A second volley of arrows followed, nicking us again. The decision was made to head into the mine. In addition to the missile barrage, Harry spotted beastmen moving in our direction from the main gate of the camp. During the battle with the demons, Loren had found two sacks of ore. We thought it was worth the risk to try to bring it with us.

Kurgi and Loren hauled the ore; Harry provided cover fire. Horst was already at the mine entrance and shouted out the beastmen were gaining ground. We made it to the mine entrance (though I didn’t record whether or not we made it with the ore). Kurgi and Harry set some of the explosive charges on the ground and used one of the flasks for a fuse. Inside the mine, Horst and Loren prepared mine carts to ride. As the beastmen approached the mine entrance Harry lit the fuse, which burned quickly. The ensuing blast managed to kill four of the chaos spawn; a fifth made it past the charges but was impaled upon Kurgi’s axes.

A second of wave beastmen entered the mine. Horst and Loren took the first cart, Kurgi and Harry the second. The carts were slow to build momentum and the beastmen rapidly gained ground. Harry attempted to make a molotov cocktail with one of the flasks and failed miserably, he was lucky to have not torched himself and the dwarf with an errant throw. In an effort to outdo this folly, Horst opted to jump out of the cart to give it a push. While it augmented the acceleration, he barely made it back into the cart.

The return trip from the temple was without encounter yet exhausting nonetheless. Minus Kordan and the addition of a child yielded some unplanned changes in the agenda. Despite the extra work, Horst and Harry maintained a steady pace with the goal of reaching Krovas in a day and a half. The child, Sonja, was in a bad state. She needed medical attention badly and Horst, unfortunately, wasn’t ‘trained’ in providing the type of counseling she desperately required. A hot meal, a bath, and a shelter were some other necesiities we were unable to provide. It was painfully obvious she was not going to survive long in our care.

We traveled as light as possible storing a fair cache of supplies in one of the remaining standing structures, something maybe worth returning for. A hard day’s ride, we made it past the site of Sonja’s farm before making camp, yet another location worth visiting. The second day’s ride left us travel weary but we were able to return the artifact to father Max and pass Sonja onto the church for some immediate care. Max also looked weary and a little rough; most of his time has been spent keeping Master Borislav alive. He’s hopeful the artifact will augment the healing efforts.

Harry made a point of checking in on Sonja tomorrow and left Horst for home and amenities. He found a meal and several pints at Shamley’s Hammer along with Loren. He relayed the tale of the latest adventure and displayed the loot kept from the temple. Loren took a liking the breastplate and Harry opted for the belt, leaving a nice pair of bracers for Horst. She’d get to the meet the kid tomorrow.

After several days of rest, Horst was summoned by Pyotr, who naturally, in turn, summoned us to the temple. Pyotr has been busy as well training whelps, or allegedly, soldiers for the Krovas militia. He informed us the Gromril that was supposed to arrive to continue construction of the tank is long overdue. We’re being sent to go investigate the mine and deal with all that is not well there, delivering the Gromril if all possible. The mine is a few days ride northeast from Krovas; the goal was to find our quarry well before.

On our second day of travel, we came across a broken cart in the road. The site was horrifically gory yet there no bodies or horses present. The scene was completely stripped, our only clue being a particularly disturbed area which we opted to follow. What we found was what remained of the crew and horses. All the bodies were disfigured, flayed, and partially eaten; the same was true for the horses. The party took note of three sets of tracks leading away from the carnage and opted to follow the west tracks afraid of what they might find.

The tracks wound back towards the road and eventually crossed it. Harry crept in solo and well covered and literally found shit. Doubling back towards the road, Harry signaled to the party and began scouting the north set of tracks. After following them for a good stretch, he heard the sounds of combat. Keeping silent and hidden, he crept close enough to see several beastmen attacking a familiar lone dwarf, while a few other dwarves lay dead or dying. Harry notched an arrow and fired. His aim true, he gained the attention and interest of some of the beastmen, who gave pursuit as he turned and fled in the direction of Horst and Loren.

After dispatching the beastmen, we came to discover the lone dwarf was Kurgi. The dwarves he was with were from the mine, which incidentally was our only choice considering paths to choose. We find the outer encampment for the mine to be fairly decimated. Most of the buildings suffered structural and fire damage. The palisades had been destroyed and the corpses were mutilated in a similar fashion from the cart encounter. Additionally, the corpses were arranged in an odd pattern.

Our examination of the corpses was interrupted by a crashing sound coming from the mine entrance. Making all the ruckus was a cave troll, who proceeded to attack us. The troll beat us each within a wound of our lives but we managed to take it down. We continued our examination of the site. A few minutes later it was Kurgi who noticed the troll was longer dead on the ground…

While Loren recovered from his brush with evil in the caves, we confessed to his contact we were unable to locate the sewerjacks or the stolen goods. Another job with no pay. Fortunately, the church of Sigmar came calling. Seems they were having a tough time getting Master Borislav (remember him, he’s the engineer designing the cool tank) back on his feet from his attempted assassination. The shot fired from the gun that nailed him was coated with some nasty stuff. While Max has brought people back from the brink of death many times before, he’s called upon us to fetch some extra help for him. We’re to head north out of Krovas to retrieve an artifact from a remote Sigmar temple on the frontier.

At Horst’s bidding, Harry and Kordan went along. We were well outfitted for the journey by the temple, a modest concilation for the pay in completing the job. The first day proved uneventful though camping in the deep of winter was enough of an obstacle. On the second day, under clear skies, while Harry was on point, he ordered a stop as he caught movement in the brush off to the west of the road. Horst bellowed out for the hidden to reveal themselves. Arms ready, what emerged was hardly a threat. A small child popped out exclaiming her family was under attack. To the west, we caught a plume of smoke. Kordan and Harry began to discuss options while Horst ordered his mount to head in the direction of the fire. Harry scooped up the girl turning his horse to follow Horst. Kordan, disgruntled, went along with the masses.

Approaching the final copse of trees, the group stopped to evaluate the scene. Nothing but open ground lay between them and the farmhouse, which burned with rage. Various beastmen were spotted, some eating cows and others hauling sacks of grain. There was no sign of any people, they were already likely casualties. Horst and Kordan dismounted and began covering the ground to the farm. The little girl clung to Harry fearfully. while it was a problem getting her to settle down, Harry was able to provide some ranged support as the beastmen were dealt with.

During the encounter, the girl was able to untie Harry’s horse but she didn’t make it far before being tossed. Horst and Kordan returned with the grim news of no survivors. We learned the girl’s name was Sonja and it took little convincing to get her to agree to come with us. We’d just have to figure out what to do with her if we got her back to Krovas.

The remainder of the trip to the temple was without hassle, however the temple itself was in terrible shape and appeared to have been sacked. We all dismounted and cautiously approached the ruin. Sonja was more than willing to stay with the horses. Closer examination revealed the temple has been destroyed. Trappings were strewn every which way and it appeared the assailants were looking for something. Several bodies, deceased, were also scattered about. Making out way to the main shrine in the temple, we found the reliquary destroyed and the artifact missing, not that we truly knew what we were supposed to retrieve.

Harry and Kordan both took note of some sudden random movement. The trio circled up and before long were engaged with spiders bursting through the snow. Kordan and Horst both received a couple of puncture wounds from the nasty stinger on the spiders abdomen. The spiders were eventually dispatched, Kordan and Horst both hung on to live by a thread. Harry continued to investigate and eventually came across a trio of priests. Along with the artifact, Harry chose to make off with some armor, a belt, and some bracers to share with the group. Horst voiced his disapproval in defiling the bodies but was in no condition to put up a fight. Harry contested the point of ‘is it better to leave this fine equipment out here in the wastes eventually to be donned by the minions of chaos?’

In no condition to travel, Harry unpacked and set up camp for the group doing his best to treat the wounds of Kordan and Horst. While Sigmar smiled on his injured disciple, Kordan was not so lucky and did not survive the night succumbing to the arachnid’s venom. Already forced with the extra baggage of the child, Horst said some words of farewell and we left Kordan with the rest of the lot at the desecrated temple.

The next morning, the trek home began with the artifact and the hopes of preserving the life of one Master Borislav.

Sewerjacks missing, hijacked rations, and things that go boom

So, it’s been a while since any updates were posted here. Going to create journal entries from our past adventures this spring/summer.

One note: We’ve added Balgi to the campaign but I don’t remember how we first integrated him. My notes don’t cover that.

Adventure was from 4/7 and included Me-Harry, Julian-Loren, Alex-Horst, ToddW-Balgi

A contact of Loren’s was the employer of the dead sewerjack we found in the sewers while chasing down the assassins who assailed the engineers warehouse in the north end of town. We’ve been hired to find the remaining two missing sewerjacks along with a stolen cache of supplies, most likely food. It is believed to also have been moved through the sewers, most likely via the abandoned section in northwest Krovas where the tunnels are dry.

We spotted some caves on a ridge outside of Krovas and chose to begin our search there. Given our options we decided to climb above the main cave entrace and rapel down to an isolated ledge which would provide access to the caves. Once reaching the ridge, Harry opened up his backpack (formerly Lev Marik’s) navigating deftly past the sturdy rope ladder in favor of the riskier piton/rope combo for rapelling down to the cave entrace. In all irony, Harry had some coordination issues falling the remaining 12 feet down to the ledge suffering some minor injuries in the process.

In we went into the caves and were immediately greeted by a group of sentries. Balgi and Horst charged in quickly to remove any advantage from their prepared and fortified position. The melee wsa fierce, Balgi receiving his fair share of wounds in the battle. We narrowly defeated the final sentry before he was able to ring out a warning for reinforcements. The crates and barrels they were fortified behind contained nothing of interest nor the trappings on the sentries themselves, aside from bearning a similar mark/tattoo of the assassins encountered previously with the engineering corp. Feeling we were on the right track, we did some patchwork healing on Balgi, regropued, and prepared to move deeper into the cave.

Harry and Loren took the point making use of the torches already in place and doing their best to stay concealed in the shadows. In our successive stealth, we were able to get the jump on the next group of bandits, who numbered eight, and were also in a fortified position. Harry and Loren let a pair of arrows/bolts initiate the attack with Balgi and Horst ready to charge any who moved in to counterattack. Four of the eight charged us; Harry and Loren continued their missile barrage managing to take out a pair of bandits who were flipping tables to create some cover. Balgi and Horst made quick work of the charging bandits; Loren switched to his spear to assist while Harry moved further from the melee and was able to drop another bandit at a distance in the room. With the melee over, Harry noticed the lone remaining bandit make a dash across the room and saw a spark fly.

On Harry’s note, the rest of the party made for the room dispatching the bandit and searching for what was lit. The group hadn’t taken notice of the burning fuse, which Harry was lucky to espy at a distance. He shouted at them to put it out. Horst looked around aimlessly for the fuse; Balgi was making sure the last bandit wouldn’t get up and Loren was shouting at Horst to stomp on the fuse as he had spotted it and pointed out Horst was closest. Horst pounded on the fuse with Panache, but to his dismay, the cord continued to burn. Loren was able to get to the fuse and cut it preventing whatever was at the other end from igniting.

With the situation ‘defused’, the group searched the bandits finding similar tattoos but at this point no sewerjacks or stolen goods. Harry tracked the fuse to a series of minor explosives lining the doorway to the room the bandits were hosted in. They were intending to seal off the room from us. The explosives were carefully extracted along with the fuse for future use. After regouping, we decided to press forward via the other exit from the room.

Proceeding through the tunnel, we began to feel an overwhelming sense of dread. We entered a room and after searching behind a tapestry found a wall containing several carving of the same image/tattoo on the bandits/assassins. The markings were large and pulsed with a red glow; the portent gripped Loren’s mind filling it with horrible thoughts and images. He was nearly incapacitated so opposed to moving on, we beat a hasty retreat and had to accept failure of our objectives for the evening.

The forces intent on invading Krovas seem to be powerful and organized. This needs to be reported to the authorities and temple of sigmar.

Nighttime in Krovas + A Steam Cannon = Wackiness

Harry had made a deal with a businessman named Krieger to deliver the ammunition we had found in the sewers of Krovas to its rightful owners. Kordan, Lauren, Horst and Harry met up, loaded the ammo onto a sled, and headed over to the location that Harry had agreed to deliver it to.

Our destination was a warehouse on the northern edge of Krovas. We arrived and found it to be a standard warehouse tucked in amongst all the other warehouses in that area. Harry strode up to the door and knocked. He was asked, “Who is it?” Harry explained that he was here with a delivery for Krieger. The response was, “Right. We’ve been expecting you. Come on in.”

The door opened, and we walked in. Kordan and Lauren lugged in the boxes of ammo. There were several people working in the well-lit warehouse. All wore heavy-duty craftsmen aprons and were covered with soot. In the main work-area of the warehouse was a large wagon-like vehicle with iron-sides and cannons pointing out of it.

We followed the man who answered the door (presumably, he was the main engineer) to his office. Once inside, he opened a box of ammo and looked at its contents. He seemed quite pleased with what he saw. Suddenly, a shot rang out. The man clutched his chest and then fell down.
Harry, Horst, Lauren and Kordan looked around to find who had done the shooting. We spotted 3 shadowy figures on a catwalk on the third story of the warehouse. 2 immediately jumped out the nearest window to the catwalk; the other was reloading weapon resembling a Hochland Long Rifle.

Harry drew his bow, notched an arrow, and fired at the figure reloading his rifle. The arrow flew true and thudded into its target’s chest. Kordan ran out of the office and exited the warehouse through its front door. Lauren took out his crossbow and loaded it. Horst knelt down by the wounded engineer and tended to his wound.

Horst noticed that the engineer’s wound had no exit point and was cauterized around the entry point. Also, Horst’s healing hands blessing appeared to have no effect on the wound. The other warehouse workers immediately dispatched someone to get, “Doctor Max.”

The last remaining shooter lurched out the warehouse’s window. Harry and Lauren bounded up the warehouse’s stairs to pursue him. Horst grew increasingly concerned that the main engineer was swiftly bleeding to death before his very eyes. Sadly, Horst concluded that the engineer’s wound was beyond his ability to help. Horst got up and started to head out of the warehouse.

Outside of the warehouse, Kordan saw two individuals crossing a rope bridge from the warehouse to the next building. Without hesitation, he charged into that building. Once inside, he noticed a large hole in the floor of the building. The three individuals who had shot at the engineer leapt into the hole. Kordan heard them running off with a great deal of splashing.

Lauren and Harry reached the roof of the warehouse. Next, they crossed the rope bridge to the roof of the adjacent building. Then, they climbed down ropes from the roof to the floor. Harry climbed down just fine, but Lauren slipped and fell to the floor. Dazed, Lauren got up and shook off the impact of the fall as best as he could.

Kordan jumped down the hole in the floor into the sewer system. Once Kordan assessed the situation and determined it contained no immediate threat, he called out to Harry and Lauren to follow him. Horst entered the building at this time and heard what Kordan said. Harry, Lauren, and Horst all jumped down the hole in the floor to join Kordan.

The quartet found themselves in Krovas’s sewers once again. The center of the sewer was a reservoir full of sludgy sewage. On both sides of the reservoir, there were stone footpaths alongside the sewage flow. With a little observation, we detected that someone had walked down one of the footpaths recently.

We followed the footsteps’ trail until it abruptly came to a halt. The trail came to a halt near a small cross-pipe. The cross-pipe spanned from one wall to the other above the sewage reservoir. Lauren poked the sewage with his spear to see if there was anything it. After Lauren declared he had not touched anything with his spear, Kordan foolishly jumped into the sewage. He did not find anyone or anything near where the trail stopped. All he got for his troubles was a case of nausea. Kordan climbed out of the sewage.

We continued to take the footpath until we reached its terminus. There, we found a body. Kordan fished the body out of the sewer. Upon examination, Kordan determined that the body belonged to a member of Krovas’s sewage watch. Near this body, was a ladder that led up to a manhole cover.

After a little hesitation, Kordan climbed up the ladder and poked his head out into the street above. An arrow whistled through the air and embedded itself into the pavement near Kordan’s head. Kordan swiftly climbed down the ladder and told everyone what just happened.

After talking over the situation with his colleagues, Kordan decided that he should lead the charge up the manhole cover. Kordan climbed up the ladder as quickly as he could. Then, he leaped out of the manhole and drew out his two-handed war hammer. Harry followed and drew out his bow and notched an arrow. Lauren and Horst climbed up after Harry.

Arrows flew through the air at Harry, Horst, Lauren and Kordan. Lauren and Harry returned fire while Kordan and Horst charged at whoever was shooting at us. The arrows were being fired by two of the assassins from the warehouse. Between Lauren’s and Harry’s missile fire and Horst’s and Kordan’s melee attacks, we quickly made short work of the two. We ran past their corpses in hopes of catching up to the third assassin.

We found the third assassin a little bit up the road. He was in a dazed state and seemed to be catatonic. Suddenly, a nightmarish figure appeared near him. An androgynous, humanoid creature with a chitinous shell and a claw for a hand beckoned seductively toward us. Lauren fell under this creature’s spell and walked over to it. The creature calmly cut his chest open with its claw.

Harry fired an arrow at the creature. Horst and Kordan charged at it. We exchanged blows with the creature until it finally appeared to lose interest in fighting us. The creature said, “This has been interesting. We will play again in the future.” Then, it vanished.

After its departure, Lauren snapped back to his senses. We walked back to our domiciles to rest, heal, and recover.

Our party is in danger of becoming Nihilists

The Captain of the remaining troops ordered that the nearby logging camp be searched. A search of the camp revealed that its inhabitants had all been killed. Most of them had been killed in the camp’s largest and sturdiest building, the long house. Its walls had been knocked down from the outside, and its stones had been melted by an unearthly flame.

The troops, the Captain, Kordan, Horst, and Harry proceeded southward to check in on the largest town in the area. Our hope was that the barge containing the grain shipment could be found there. We marched onward and into an ambush. A horde of Wargs and Beastmen charged out of the woods to the east of the road. They were repulsed at the cost of 12 of the troops.

The ambush caused the Captain to completely lose his confidence, composure and connection to reality. He lapsed into a catatonic stupor. His Sergeant-At-Arms unofficially took command.

After a further march, we arrived at the town. It was being besieged by the largest army that Horst, Kordan, and Harry had ever seen. This army consisted of Beastmen and humanoid figures clad in black armor that was festooned with skulls, entrails and the other foul ornaments of the Gods of Chaos.

The sergeant-at-arms spotted a gap in the besieging Beastmen’s line. He ordered us and his troops to charge through it so that we could get into the town. The sergeant’s plan was to have the remaining pistoleers serve as a battering ram and shield for the remaining rangers, Horst, Kordan, Harry, and the command retinue. The pistoleers would unleash a mass volley to beat the Beastmen back while the rest of us ran into the town.

We executed the plan, and it appeared to be working at first. The rangers, sergeant, Horst, Harry, Kordan, the standard bearer, Captain and musician rushed towards the town. The sergeant noticed that a horde of Beastmen were charging towards the pistoleers. Fearing that the pistoleers would be overrun and massacred, he ordered everyone to rush to the pistoleers’ side to make a stand. Horst started to join him, but Kordan stopped him. Kordan pointed out that the sergeant and his troops were hopelessly outnumbered. If we were to join him, all of us would die. Harry agreed with Kordan so the two of them headed into the town. Horst reluctantly followed them.

The sergeant, Captain and the rest of the troops were overrun and massacred. Their deaths accomplished nothing. The sergeant should have stuck to his plan and run into the town. At least then, he, the Captain, some rangers, and the command retinue would have survived. The pistoleers’ deaths would have been sacrificed to save the lives of their comrades. Instead, the sergeant committed all of his troops to a hopeless stand. Their deaths were utterly meaningless.

Once inside the city, Kordan, Harry and Horst wasted no time in heading to the docks. There, they found the barge with its full cargo of food. The deck hands near the ship suggested we speak to the ship’s Captain and the town’s Magistrate regarding the barge and its cargo. We rushed to the town’s city hall (housed in a keep).

Once inside the keep, we headed into the main area and started speaking to an official looking man working with a quill, some ink and some paper. The magistrate was skeptical of us at first, but Horst convinced him that we were the only survivors of the forces dispatched from Krovas to track down the missing grain shipment.

The magistrate was irritatingly unconcerned by the massive army of Beastmen besieging his town. He stated that the town had no military commander. Eventually, the town’s head constable came into the keep and spoke to us. He stated that he was serving as the town’s military commander for now. He also told us that the Beastmen had a few Hell-Cannons. Hell-Cannons are capable of destroying this town. He asked us to join an assault whose objective was to destroy the Hell-Cannons.

Horst was eager to join the assault, but, again, Kordan argued against joining it. Kordan reasoned that this town was doomed to fall to the Beastmen’s superior numbers. Destroying the Hell-Cannons might buy the town a few days’ worth of survival. Inevitably, the town would be overrun by Beastmen. Its inhabitants would be slaughtered by feral Beastmen, or they would be sacrificed to the Gods of Chaos that the Beastmen serve. Harry agreed with Kordan that the assault on the Hell-Cannons was both a meaningless and foolish risk of all of their lives. Harry and Kordan reasoned that the greatest good they could do for Kislev was to return to Krovas and warn them that a massive army of Beastmen was out there and headed their way. Hopefully, the authorities in Krovas would put together a force large enough to defeat the army of Beastmen that was besieging this town, and that this army would march to this town in time to save it. Reluctantly, Horst conceded to their grim, merciless and bleak logic.

Kordan, Harry and Horst headed to the town’s docks. The barge was too large to make it through the damaged lock so it was decided to leave it behind. Knowing that the shaman who attacked us on our way from Krovas was still out there, we judged that one boat had the best chance of slipping by, or sneaking up on, the shaman. Kordan, Harry and Horst loaded up one small barge with all the provisions the crewmen of the barge would give us. We suggested that the barge go to Erengrad as this town was doomed to fall. We did not wait to find out if the crew heeded our advice.

Kordan, Harry and Horst paddled upstream towards Krovas. Near the locks, we spotted the shaman right as we pulled the barge up onto a section of the river that had frozen over. Harry prepared to fire an arrow at the Shaman, and Kordan conducted a strenuous and reckless charge right at the Shaman. Harry fired an arrow, and Kordan delivered a thunderous blow on the shaman. The Shaman unleashed a bag full of deadly green gas at Kordan. Horst charged over to join the fray.

The shaman fought ferociously, but eventually Kordan’s Hammer, Horst’s Hammer, and Harry’s arrows overcame him. He exploded in a wave of noxious green energy.

Nursing our wounds, we returned to Krovas. After a few days of rest and recovery, we headed to the Temple of Sigmar to report the outcome of our expedition to Pyotr. Pyotr was unimpressed by the size of the Beastmen army. He opted not to do anything about it. Horst, Kordan and Harry departed the temple feeling disillusioned and full of despair about the future. Krovas seems beset by foes from within and without in addition to facing the likelihood of its food supply being cut off during the Raspotisa. Yet, no one seems willing or able to do anything about it.

Return of the Raven Cult

The government of the city of Krovas called for volunteers. The latest shipment of grain being sent down the river to Krovas was overdue. Considering how tight the food supply already was, and the fact that the Raspotisa would start soon, the city government decided that a contingent of the Krovas militia should be dispatched to try and recover the shipment and determine what had caused it to be delayed.

Horst was commanded to participate in this mission by the Church. Kordan and Harry were motivated to join the mission by the fact that volunteers for the militia get first dibs on food during the Raspotisa.

Kordan, Harry, and Horst reported to the staging area for the mission at the Krovas waterfront. The mission consisted of 120 men. Some were Rangers (Cossars); some were Pistoleers (Streletzki). The rest were militia members. Leading the mission was a regular army Captain named Wardcliff. Six flat-bottomed boats had been procured to transport this force upstream to the locks where the grain shipment had last been seen.

Horst, Harry, and Kordan took positions on the first boat. Horst joined the punters (the group of people propelling the boat by pushing poles against the river bottom). Harry joined the navigation team at the rudder. Kordan joined the group responsible for spotting ice on a collision course with the boat.

Reaching the locks by boat would take about three days. The first day of travel was uneventful. On the second day, a block of ice drifted too closely to the boat. The pole of one of the crew members punting was knocked forcefully by it. The punter was knocked off the boat. Captain Wardcliff noticed this and ordered every boat to continue forward. Kordan ignored this command and dove in after the crewman. Kordan swam in the frigid water, reached the crewman, and dragged him back onto the boat.

The militia noted Captain Wardcliff’s indifference to one of their comrades’ plight. The militia’s morale dropped accordingly. The voyage resumed.

Later that day, another ice flow struck one of the boats. The boat immediately started to sink. Captain Woodcliff stated that no one was to pick up the boat’s crew as there was not enough space on the remaining boats to carry extra crew and their supplies. Capt. Woodcliff ordered the twenty crewmen in the water to swim to shore and walk back to Krovas.

Horst, Harry, and Kordan immediately moved from boat to boat until they could speak with Capt. Woodcliff. Kordan mentioned that he had seen a lone raven, and that this was an indication that the Famine Cult that had sacked Kenby was nearby. Horst and Harry pointed out that morale amongst the militia was already quite low, and sending 20 of them back to Krovas without pay would cause it to plummet further. Kordan pointed out that each of the five remaining boats would only need to take an extra four crew members each. With only one more day’s worth of the journey left, food could be foraged from the surrounding forest to make up for the lost supplies. After considering these facts and seeing the sincerity in Harry’s, Kordan’s, and Horst’s faces, Capt. Woodcliff agreed to allow the 20 crewmen from the sunken boat to get onto the remaining 5 boats.

The journey resumed. As we were getting near to stopping and making camp for the night, mysterious waves of water gushed up from underneath each boat. One boat was broken in half; all were shaken. Kordan and Harry immediately tried to propel the boat we were on towards the shore. Horst looked around and noticed that the crewmen who had been knocked into the water were not coming to the surface. It was like some unseen force was keeping them down underneath the surface of the water.

Kordan’s, Harry’s, and Horst’s boat made it about half-way to the riverbank. Then, a gigantic wave burst up in front of our boat and froze into a wall of ice. This wall of ice was blocking our boat from reaching the riverbank.

Upon seeing this, Kordan dropped his pole and took out his two-handed warhammer. Screaming at the top of his lungs, Kordan ran up to the prow of the boat and leaped off. He flew through the air to the ice wall and attempted to smash through it with his hammer. Kordan’s hammer blow caused a few cracks to appear in the ice wall, but it held. Kordan crashed into the wall of ice and fell into the frigid water of the river.

Horst pulled out his magical warhammer, and then he attempted the same flying hammer attack that Kordan had just tried. By the blessings of Sigmar, Horst smashed the ice wall into pieces. Our boat continued on its way to shore. Harry threw out a rope for Kordan to grab onto so that he could be pulled onto the boat, but Kordan missed the rope.

Struggling in the frigid water, Kordan felt as if something was pushing him down underneath the water. Summoning all his strength, he propelled himself to a nearby ice flow and climbed aboard it. Harry left the riverbank and leaped from ice flow to ice flow until he reached Kordan. Then, he led Kordan back to shore.

Capt. Woodcliff made it to shore and marshaled the remaining Rangers, Pistoleers, and militia. One lone figure, clad in animal furs festooned with rotting animal parts, had been spotted in the distance. This mysterious figure appeared to be orchestrating the waves that had attacked our boats. The Rangers and Pistoleers all unleashed a volley of arrows and lead balls. This wall of ammunition sped towards the figure. The figure waved one of his hands, and a green cloud appeared around him. The wall of arrows and shot entered the green cloud, burst aflame, and the turned into ash. While the figure was concentrating on the green cloud, the waves stopped, and the bodies of the crewmen underneath the water floated to the surface of the river.

The Rangers and Pistoleers unleashed another volley. Again, the arrows and shot all burned to ash in the green cloud surrounding the figure. The green cloud disappeared and the figure ran off. He was followed by a lone raven.

Capt. Woodcliff surveyed the wreckage of the boats and the ragtag group of survivors of the 120-strong army that had set out from Krovas. He paused and then said, “Start fires. Dry off. Then, we proceed to the locks on foot.”

After drying off, we set out for the locks. Eventually, we arrived at them, but they were deserted. No sign of the grain shipments or any boats could be found. No tracks or any signs of life could be seen around the locks.

Pursuing filthy lucre

Lauren, Horst, Harry and Kordan were all lounging around Fitzlov’s Fineries. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Harry answered; it was a grimy street urchin. The boy said that he had a message for Harry. Harry accepted the message, gave the boy a brass coin, and sent him on his way.

The message was from Pettigren. He requested that the four of us head over to his warehouse so that he could offer us an opportunity to earn some money. The four of us walked over to Pettigren’s warehouse near the river.

Once in the warehouse, Pettigren brought us into his office and made his offer. If we got an acquaintance of some of his business associates out of jail, help that acquaintance deliver a message to Pettigren, and get this man on the road to Nuln we would get 3 gold coins. The name of this man is Luther Von Holstead. We accepted the job, and Pettigren gave us 5 gold coins as working capital for the venture.

On the way back to Fitzlov’s Fineries, Harry quickly came up with a plan to get Luther out of jail. Harry would forge extradition papers for Luther. We would walk into the jail, present the papers, and walk out with Luther. The cover story would be that Luther had stolen something from an important nobleman in Erengrad. The nobleman had arranged for Luther to be extradited from Krovas to Erengrad so that the nobleman could punish Luther himself. Harry forged the papers, and Hadrian purchased a sled, a team of sled dogs, and enough provisions to get Luther back to Nuln. Harry, Kordan, Lauren and Horst headed to the jail. Hadrian took the sled, dogs, and food to the rendezvous point we had all agreed upon.

Once in the lobby of the jail, Harry strode forward to speak with the clerk on duty there. Harry explained that he was an agent of the De Cervantes family. He had extradition papers for a prisoner in the Krovas jail to take him back to Erengrad. The clerk asked to see the papers. Harry handed them over, and the clerk scrutinized them. The clerk stated that he could not release a prisoner himself. We would need to come back tomorrow when a judge was available to approve the extradition.

Upon hearing that, Kordan walked over and said that he was going to get a bonus of 10 silver coins if we got Luther on the road tonight. Kordan offered the clerk half of that bonus if he handed the prisoner over to us immediately. The clerk stated that he could not possibly release a prisoner to us for only 5 silver coins. Harry sensed the full meaning of that statement and proceeded to negotiate a price with the clerk for which the clerk could release the prisoner to us.

A price was agreed upon. The clerk introduced himself as Dominic Falstad. He led us into the prison towards the cell where Luther was being held. Dominic took us to a large, dimly-lit, and very foul-smelling holding cell. About a dozen prisoners were sitting underneath coarse wool blankets in the cell. While holding his nose due to the stench coming from the cell, Dominic said that he would not enter the cell. We would have to go in without him and get Luther. Dominic pointed to a figure seated at the back of the cell. “That is Luther,” he said. Reasoning that his night vision made him the best qualified to go into the dimly-lit cell, Kordan volunteered to go in alone and get Luther.

Gripping his warhammer, Kordan entered the cell. He walked to the back and called out Luther’s name. The figure at the end of the cell did not stir. Kordan walked up to him and prodded him with the handle of his warhammer. In response, the figure cast off his blanket and sprang at Kordan. In that moment, Kordan saw that Luther was really a half-lizard, half-human mutant. The creature tackled Kordan to the ground. Kordan shouted out that none of the prisoners were shackled before he was brought to the ground.

Lauren charged into the cell to help Kordan. Harry drew his gauche. Horst attempted to grab Dominic.

Lauren got about half of the way into the cell before the stench overwhelmed him. Then, he vomited. Kordan threw Luther off of him. Dominic collapsed into a ball while Horst watched over him. Harry was mobbed by 4 of the “prisoners.” The “prisoners” were all just as mutated as Luther.

Kordan ran full speed to the entrance to the cell so he could assist Harry. Lauren was attacked by Luther. Horst grabbed Dominic and dragged him into the cell with us. Harry struggled to cast off the mob of mutants who were attacking him.

Kordan swiftly killed two of the mutants holding Harry. Lauren fought with Luther. Dominic sprang up, stabbed Horst with a dagger, and then shut the door of the cell.

Kordan killed the remaining mutants holding Harry. Lauren killed Luther. Horst killed Dominic. Harry dispatched the other mutants. One blanket-covered mutant did not join in the attack. Suddenly, that blanket flattened as whatever was underneath it vanished. Kordan drew back the blanket and discovered a hatch. Kordan opened the hatch, saw it led into an empty chamber, and jumped in. Lauren, Horst and Harry all followed.

Once in the hatch, we followed some footprints to a flimsy door. Kordan smashed through the door and charged into a room. The room contained a small figure and a robed wizard. The wizard held a staff that had a crystal on top of it. The crystal emitted a sickly-green light. In the center of the room, there was a writhing mass of unholy flesh. The wizard looked at the four of us and stated that he was glad that four new subjects for his experiments had presented themselves to him. Then, the mutated blob started advancing towards the four of us.

Kordan, Harry and Horst battled the blob. Lauren battled the wizard. After exchanging a few blows with Lauren, the wizard ripped the crystal off of the top of his staff and smashed it on the ground. A sickly green wave of energy swept across the room. This wave of chaotic energy swept over Lauren, Horst, Kordan and Harry. It caused Lauren to grow an extra eye, Horst to sprout a second mouth, Kordan to grow tentacles, and Harry’s arms and legs to grow to unnatural lengths.

While reeling from the disgust that our mutations caused us, we fought on. Kordan switched to attacking the wizard and delivered a might hammer blow to him. The wizard disintegrated into a mass of half dead rats, and half live rats. The living rats ran out of the room. Horst, Lauren and Harry killed of the blob.

We walked over to the remaining figure in the room. We pulled back its cloak to discover that it was a twelve-year old human boy who had a few horrible mutations. Horst wanted to slay the tainted spawn of Chaos, but Kordan, Lauren and Harry prevailed upon him to spare the boy’s life for the time being. The boy took us into another chamber where we found several other unfortunate souls that the foul Chaos wizard had inflicted mutations upon. One of those souls identified himself as Luther von Holstead.

Still in the room with the coffins, we spent some time searching the room for an alternate exit. We didn’t want to go back to the big room with all the animated corpses. While we didn’t find another way out, we did linger long enough for the runes on the floor to light up again which re-animated the corpses beginning the battle anew. They weren’t as tough the second time around. Kordan, in a wild swing, actually struck the runes on the floor during his follow through which created an odd otherworldly anomaly. It seems whatever happened knocked us all down and turned the animated corpses to dust.

We came up with a plan to assault the main room but, to our surprise, it seems the corpses had un-animated. Once we were all in the main room, we had a second look at the runes in this room and they matched the ones in the sarcophagus room we had just come from. Not wanting to linger, we made our way to the door in the room where the pile of corpses were originally stacked. The door was easy to open and after a venture down a long hallway, we entered a large room containing a massive version of the statue we saw in the sarcophogus room.

In the room was a single deceased figure who Kordan identified as Lev. We ‘borrowed’ some of his inventory and read through a journal of his final days. It seems he too was subjected to the stirring corpses in the main chamber and fled this way. Upon locking himself in this room, he was unable to open the other doors in this room. A puzzle presented itself as the locks to the doors in the room. Harry, Kordan, and Horst put their heads together and got the riddle solved which opened a pair of doors. One of them led us to the living quarters and library of this once inhabited establsihment. We found some interesting texts which appeared to be very old (and perhaps worth something…to someone). The other door led to an exit which we took and eventually made our way back to Krovas.

The next stop was reporting to Pettigren we had found Lev Marik. We took his journal as proof we found him and this was good enough for Pettigren. With his death confirmed, Pettigren was finally willing to open the crates Lev had stored in his warehouse. What we found were four unmarked crates full of shot(highly unusual for the craftsmen not to put their seal on the product). Harry was able to take a box or two of shot and told him to get in touch if he needed a hand in unloading the cargo. The group headed back for debriefing and cocktails at Shamley’s Hammer and to brainstorm over potential buyers for their paper treasures.

Harry, Kordan, and Horst got themselves outfitted for the haul into the unknown. As the weather was cold, we dressed heavily and outfitted ourselves for combat. We made it back to the cistern and laid out our plans. Bringing extra oil, we set a perimeter to work on the riddle of the rings. We got them assembled and it was indeed the key to opening the door.

What we found inside appeared to be a large mausoleum for many dead, of whom we’re not yet sure. A walk down a long hallway led us to a room that had braziers lit, a few exits, and a pile of corpses littered around one of the doors.

Investigations around the braziers led to a discovery of runes and of course the corpses animated. We started an attack but there were too many so we beat a hasty down another door into a hallway. This led us to a room with sarcophagi (6) and a large statue of a man adorned with nice armor/weapons etc. Someone of importance perhaps at one time. Four of the coffins had been raided but two were left untouched. At the base of the statue were some runes on the floor.

We took a look at the coffin on the right, moved the lid, and didn’t notice much. We didn’t loot the coffin, rather, we put the lid back. Moving onto the second we repeated the process but the runes on the floor lit up and this corpse in coffin #2 animated. It was a tough fight and during it we could hear corpse in coffin #1 trying to get out. He arrived as we were taking down the first. We took him out as well without suffering too many injuries.

Based on the reports from the last adventure, the group has decided to focus on the enigma of the door that just won’t open in the sewers and the legion of rats set there to keep it closed. We needed more information on the sewers, a clue as to where it relates in the city for a possible alternate way in, and some gossip as to what might be down there. Every one had a lead to investigate, what follows is a summation of what was learned.

Loren met a pair at Shamley’s Hammer that had some insight into the layout in the sewers. Their request was to get a piece of the action of the business and dealings out of Fitzlov’s Fineries. Loren set up a deal for the group to meet to discuss options.

Kordan met with one of his contacts in the Warrens, a legitimate business man and halfling named Pettigren. He is also the same individual holding a number of goods in a warehouse for one Lev Marik, now missing for a month. Pettigren’s request of Kordan was to ‘convince’ a pair of Grifters operating in Krovas, who are causing quite a stir with frequent muggings and drawing a little too much unwarranted attention to life in the underworld, to find a new place to make their fortunes. In exchange, Pettigren was willing to share some information on popular ‘shipping’ routes designed to avoid dealings with the establishment.

Harry dragged Kordan and Loren to the city archives for a day of searching old tomes for info on the layout of the city. With a little coin and some heat from Kordan, the worker of the day was coerced into assisting. After a lot of looking, we found an old map of the city and network of tunnels beneath it. It seems Krovas used to be a bigger place, the map we found was quite old and it’s amazing to have survived whatever cataclysm had formerly reduced the boundaries of what was once a large riverfront city. Based on today’s Krovas, it is likely the door itself is outsides the current borders, so we are unlikely to find an alternate entrance to whatever lies beyond the ‘stuck’ door.

It turns out the pair requiring ousting from Kordan are the very two thugs Loren had met. The proposition Lenny and George (as they will now be known) had made to Loren was nothing but a scam to mug him and possibly Harry. We were ready with a ruse of our own for the meeting but it seems Lenny and George have henchmen. Shortly after leaving Shamley’s Hammer for the ‘meeting place’, Loren caught note of hand signals George was making and decided to confront him on the spot in the street. Kordan was watching the affair from the steps of the inn across the street from Shamley’s Hammer (whose name I cannot remember and I can’t find a wiki link, though I thought we had one).

The incident ended poorly for Lenny and George. Through some social negotiations, it seemed Loren had convinced Lenny and George to seek their fortunes elsewhere until they started making threats to Harry Canyon and Fitlov’s Fineries. Kordan sprang into action. Lenny was felled with one swing and George was out the fight with another. Seems the henchmen weren’t willing to assist. George babbled on about the death of his brother and how the rumors of our group must be true. Apparently the underworld loves its gossip and we’re the hottest topic seeing as how Harry killed old man Fitzlov to get the shop (not true). Perhaps our growing reputation will have some perks in the future even if the rumors are just that. George was allowed to walk away from the encounter while we took the not quite dead Lenny back to Pettigren for questioning.

Pettigren was not amused by the situation and turned us away. Kordan finished Lenny off and dumped his body in the river. Harry made a journey the next day to Pettigren on his own to apologize for the poor decision to bring Lenny there. He received the payment of the smuggler’s run though it lent no insight to the door puzzle. This map is now stashed at Fitzlov’s Fineries. Harry also learned Pettigren claims of operating legally seemed factual. The idea was presented if we looked through Lev’s shipments, it might help us find him, but this went against Pettigren’s credo.

The next morning, the trio went back to the cistern and the door. Further searching showed the rubble in the room was placed. We found several Halo’s of various sizes with markings amongst the rubble and blissfully stumbled upon a circular recession in the middle of the room. The Halo’s appear to need to be arranged properly within the recession. With any luck, it’s the key to opening the door.